The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1887-07-28

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dilated upon the subject for at least
an hour, and then he launched out
upon the destitute condition of the
largest Chinese colony at the East
End OF Loheon. / tried t. get away
several times. but Intellectually. At
last he succeeded in communicating
to me q portion--a very small por.
tion-of his own enthusiasm. He
painted q terrible picture Of John
Chinaman in London, homeless, pen.
iiiless;; friendless. hopeless, possessed
body and soul by the opium fiend,
spending his hard earned coppers in
sordid denis Upon thefatal drug, which,
was to assuredly repay his infatua.
ton by gradually stealing away his
health, his brains, and at last his life.
He fairly made my flesh creep.
my dear fellow" he said sthere is
no time like the present; come and see
for yourself"
l resisted, but In vain. l have said
I am difident. I fear + have NO
strength of mind. l never can say no:
could not say no to Campbell. 1t
was ten O'clock at night: He got me
down stairs. It was an awful night.
In a hanson cab he dragged me to the
most dreadful of the dreadful slums
OF the East End of London. Such
sordid misery as l saw there l had
never even dreamt of.
l am not going to inflict upon you a
long description of an opium den; that
has been done before by the master
hand. and has been attempted over
and over again by puny imitators.
There lay John Chinaman enjoying
his poison. A common china ink.
bottle and a bit of bamboo formed
his pipe. The ink-bottle had q hole
in the side, on which the treacly-look-
ing drug was carefully smeared, then
it was lighted. John smoked a few
whiffs in evident ecstacy, and then
John died, or at least appeared to do
so. Oplum-smoking John was q mis-.
cradle object; he was lean, sickly-look-
ing' a melancholy wight.
"lt's very dreadful, isn't it," said
Campbell. II mustn't let this oppor.
tunity slip. You are a doctor. l
want to see what it's like. 1t ism t
mere curiosity l feel; it's g. sort vi
melancholy duty. Now you're here,
I'll get you to watch over me-"
Of what new absurdity was Camp
bell about to be guilty? 1t was bad
enough that he should bring unpleas.
ant proofs OF his PHILANTHROPY to
that peaceful place. the Rice end Cur.
~ Club; it was worse that he should
drag me, a professional man, gratuit-
ously-that was the extra sting to it
and in the middle of the night, to an
abominable Chinese den at the East
End OF London. But now he put q
climax to his wickedness by asking
me to watch over him, as if 1 were a
guardian angel. l never felt less like
a guardian angel in my lite. I was
about to Indignantly refuse.
II sent away the cab," said Camp
bell coolly.
Horror! we were then to stop here
till morning! for there was certainly
no getting away from the place except
in q cab. I had recently seen the
"Romany Rye" and the awful hor-
rors of the East End of London at
midnight were fresh in my mind. Who
knows but that 1 had been de-
coyed here by Campbell? He might
be my illegltimate brother, who had
brought me here to murder me, and l
was all unarmed man! The remem-
brance of Mr.. Wilson Barrett's frantic
struggles flashed through me. Alas,
had seen for myself that the very hor-
rible persons on tho Princess's stage
We're no exaegeration. Twas evidently
in for it, but ! was determined that
nothing should decoy me into those
streets, of which, from our
cab window, had already seen more
than enough.
But Campbell proceeded to reassure
me. "My dear fellow" he said, "you
seem uncomfortable, but there is
nothing to be alarmed about; all
want you to do is to look after me
professionally. lam about to make
an experiment, by trying for myself
what the much-vaunted delights OF
opium-s;;moking really are. These
poor fellows" he said, with a sympa.
thizing glance at the disgusting corpse.
like objects, who lay about in every
Railways tell me that if only
tried it once, should do as they do.
l feel that could speak to them with
more authority if I had really made
the experiment, and now is my oppor-
tunity. shall ask our host to sup
ply me with a pipe of his best opium"
He turned to a diabolical looking;
old Cinnamon who aat crouching on
the floor, warming his attenuated fin
gers over an earthen pot filled with
live charcoal, and addressed him in
his native language. did not under
stand what they said; they smiled,
grinned, and gesticulated, and 1 saw
that 1t was no use to argue with
Campbell. He deliberately took off
his coot and collar, and undid the top
button OF his shirt; then he calmly
proceeded to lie down BY the side OF
one OF the revolving objects on the
great wooden bedstead, which formed
the only furniture in the sordid room.
The Chinaman produced from his
breast a rather more elaborate pipe
than those had yet seen. It was
about six inches long; the bowl was
formed of q tiny saucer OF silver, the
size OF q shilling. From q small met
al box the old man proceeded to
charge it with opium; he then lighted
it, drew it into action with his own
mouth, and with low
handed it to Champbell,
who proceeded at once to inhaie the
In afew minutes hedropped off, and
the same idiotic appearance which
was conspicuous on the faces of the
other sleepers was visible on my
friends face. He snored heavily.
Several times placed my hand upon
his pulse, but there was nothing to
alarm me; he simply slept the heavy
sleep which is always produced by q
large dose of the drug.
There l sat till day broke watching
the man. One bv one the vario,,a